Researchers want to know how much is too much when it comes to side-banding urea in canola fields with wider row spacings. When comparing fields with wide and narrow row spacing, each with the same volume of fertilizer per acre, wide rows have higher fertilizer concentrations because there are fewer of them. The higher concentration […] Read more
Stories by Ian Bell
Research under way into role of infected seed on fusarium
Manitoba farmers already know that fusarium head blight can cost them a lot of cash. What they don’t know is how much money is lost due to the use of wheat seed infected with the fungus. Fusarium is the leading disease in terms of damage to barley and wheat crops in southern Manitoba. The fungus […] Read more
Manitoba midwives available next year
“It’s such an amazing thing to watch a baby being born,” says Meaghan Moon, a midwife living in Brandon, Man. “It never ceases to amaze me.” Moon has been a midwife for more than 12 years. During that time, she has been involved with about 145 births. She prefers delivering babies in home rather than […] Read more
Fusarium heads west
Maurice Schultz has been hearing “some really bad stories” lately about a crop disease in fields around Carnduff, Sask. It is fusarium head blight, a disease gaining a toehold in eastern Saskatchewan. It’s the same disease that has plagued Manitoba for years. Farmers with fusarium in their fields are worried, said Schultz, assistant manager of […] Read more
Manitoba train station demolition gets sidetracked
Plans to tear down an old train station at Souris, Man., may get derailed by efforts to save the building for its heritage value. Two Brandon men want to salvage lumber from the CP Rail station to build themselves new homes. Eric Dowsett and Gareth Boys bought the 87-year-old building last fall for $6,000. On […] Read more
Swine sector workers scarce
Dale McBurney sums up a sentiment shared by many in Manitoba’s hog industry when it comes to finding workers for their barns. “It’s tough,” said McBurney, manager of Hogs Is Beautiful, a farrow to early weanling venture near Souris, Man. McBurney believes the industry offers great opportunities to young people wanting a career in agriculture. […] Read more
Albrechts meet future with excitement, disquiet
BOISSEVAIN, Man. – The dawn of a new day brings a sense of calm to the farm of Walter and Betty Albrecht near this southwestern Manitoba farm. Cows chew lazily as a steady breeze skims across the pasture and delivers a soothing warmth. It looks like a bountiful year may be unfolding at the Albrecht […] Read more
Manitoba electoral boundaries updated
Rural Manitoba won’t lose any seats in the provincial legislature under proposed changes to electoral boundaries. The Manitoba Electoral Divisions Boun-daries Commission released its preliminary proposal July 15. Although most ridings will be reshaped, the new political map would still see rural Manitoba with 26 out of 57 seats. Winnipeg would hold the balance. The […] Read more
Pet pooch dog-gone lucky to be alive
Vivian Friesen has a pet pooch that clings to life with dogged determination. About a month ago, the amiable dog vanished from the Friesen’s farm home near Headingley, Man. Although he was missing for only two days, what happened to Zack during his absence is harrowing. Zack’s misfortune began when he was apparently struck by […] Read more
Are country hospitals safe for birthing?
Shawna Friesen didn’t know the peril her unborn child faced as she was rushed to hospital on the night of Dec. 15, 1996. Less than an hour earlier, a nurse at Shawna’s hometown hospital in Killarney, Man., advised her to go to Brandon to give birth. Brandon was more than 100 kilometres away, but there […] Read more
